Strain

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Japanese: ストレイン

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 5

Chapters: 40

Status: Finished

Published: 1996 to 1998

Genre: Action

Themes: Detective, Organized Crime

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Big Comic Superior

Authors: Ikegami, Ryouichi (Art), Buronson (Story)

Statistics

Score: 6.99¹ (scored by 1,182 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #8990²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #5261

Members: 3,811

Favorites: 14

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6.99

Ranked #8990Popularity #5261Members 3,811

MangaBig Comic SuperiorIkegami, Ryouichi (Art), Buronson (Story)

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Volumes: /5

Chapters: /40

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Synopsis

Mayo is the five dollar assassin who asks only five dollars for a killing. He is asked to kill the mother of a 12 year old prostitute, Shion, but leaves her alive out of pity. This event starts a chain of events which will shake the Asian economies to the core.

(Source: ANN)

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Background

Strain was published in English by VIZ Media, first in the monthly manga anothology Pulp: Manga for Grownups, from December 1997 (premiere issue) to March 2001 (issue vol. 5, no. #3), for a total of 40 issues, later as standard volumes from January 5, 1999 to January 9, 2003. It has also been published in German by Schreiber & Leser, and in French by Seebd.

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Kusaka, Shingo

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Reviews

Aug 3, 2008

Beatnik

Recommended

From the duo that gave the world the classic Sanctuary, Strain is like that epic political/gangster thriller on a micro scale.

Author Yoshiyuki Okamura aka Sho Fumimura aka Buronson (so named after Charles Bronson, which makes a lot of sense) delves into socio-economics this time, and brightens the story with viscous violence courtesy of the backstreets of late 90's Malaysia.

His skill is in blending topical insight of Asia's standing in the world; the criminal underworld's relationship with legitimate business, along with more compelling conflicts in the form of friendship and family, and how politics can send people hurtling towards each other violently.

Strain concerns itself with Japanese ... mega-corporation Kusaka and its attempts to solidify Asia's role in the oil industry. Buronson gives us a quick lesson in business: there are two main tiers to the oil industry: upstream (production of oil) and downstream (distribution), with westerners sitting pretty at the top in the lucrative upstream position, while Asia as ever is trailing behind the west. Just like Sanctuary, the main characters in this tale seek to usurp the established system and give Asia a chance to unshackle itself from its bindings.

So while Kusaka corp is trying to consolidate power by looking for oil in Asia to get into an upstream position, our main protagonist Mayo is going about his seedy life in Malaysia bumping into loveable maniacs like Angel, a bisexual homicidal cop with a tragic past.

Without going too much into the plot, what we ultimately get in this manga is a pretty break-neck paced thriller about corporations seeking power, offspring demanding answers for their reason for existing, unlikely brotherhoods forming while others disintegrate, spontaneous violence from psychopaths, history and economics lessons, and lots of excellent quotes as usual from Buronson aka Sho Fumimura aka Yoshiyuki Okamura. (Stop confusing us man, just pick one!)

Ryoichi Ikegami's art also deserves a mention; the artist continues his brilliant realist depiction of landscapes, characters and action. Everything just looks classy and mature, but even more importantly it’s staged very well. His pay-offs are superb, they don’t need double page spreads to make impact; he can pull satisfying panels out from nowhere.

Strain is a great thriller that occasionally rises above its pulpy nature, with great story and action. It enlightens the reader while satisfying them with drama. Although some of its twists and turns might be too much for some readers, you have to focus on the actions of the characters not the logistics; it's all thematically consistent, and just very entertaining. It keeps the narrative fresh and lively, there's no point at all where the manga lulls, it’s consistently hitting you with engrossing content.

Strain speeds along to an ending that feels too soon but awash in poetic justice. Five volumes are good for pace, but this manga could have been on the level of Sanctuary if it were similar in length, such is the mastery of the duo behind these brilliant stories.

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Aug 30, 2012

AgriasO

Recommended

Strain.

You must ask yourself... What in the hell is this? Who read this series? There are like 300 other people on this website who've apparently read this. [There are thousands of people reading Naruto and One Piece and Bleach -- almost hundreds of thousands]

Strain brings together the writer behind Fist of the Northern Star and an artist who's brought his realistic [but stylized] and gritty art to other manga I can't correctly name [If you read the manga, you might see various "Meet the Author" things]. Does the combination do this Seinen manga a favor?

It does. The best way to describe this manga is that ...

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Jun 28, 2017

T3Deliciouz

Not Recommended

This manga was awful and I'm gonna gouge my eyes out. You know when you see something so good and you have a mental orgasm where you meet Jesus and you step foot into Nirvana for a brief period? This gave me the opposite effect. As if the whole world ended and I was left alone staring into the abyss and the abyss stared back and yelled "cuck!" at me.

I honestly feel so disgusted having read what Buronson dares to call writing. His writing is idealistic, nationalistic, and borders on the toxic masculinity men can't get rid of and it's all combined in one ...

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